Suchergebnisse

Susan Haack has recently attempted to discredit religion by showing that science is an extended and enhanced version of common sense while religion is not. I argue that Haack's account is misguided not because science is not an extended version of common sense, as she says. It is misguided because she assumes a very restricted, and thus inadequate, account of common sense. After reviewing several more realistic models of common sense, I conclude that common sense is rich enough to allow various kinds of extensions. Just as science can be correctly seen as an enhanced version of common sense, so also religion.

I examine three major anti-religious arguments that are often proposed in various forms by cognitive and evolutionary scientists, and indicate possible responses to them. A fundamental problem with the entire debate arises because the term "religion" is too vague. So I reformulate the debate in terms of a less vague central concept: faith. Referring mainly to Aquinas on faith, I proceed by evaluating how the previously mentioned cognitive and evo-lutionary arguments fare when dealing with faith. The results show that some aspects of the concept of faith are in principle beyond the range of evolutionary explanation and some other aspects are not. Nevertheless, an evolutionary account merges smoothly with faith's theological dimensions.

There are various kinds of intellectuals. Reflecting on their role in society is often straightforward when dealing with members of the Faculties of Architecture, Dental Surgery, Economics, Medicine, and Engineering. It is much more difficult when referring to members of the Faculty of Humanities. If intellectuals are not producing anything tangible, their value to society is easily brought into question. It is clear that society needs architects, surgeons, doctors, economists and engineers. But does it really need people working in history, in literature, in philosophy, theology, music, art and drama? This is the question I will explore in this talk. My hope is that the answers will be relevant not only to those directly engaged in the Humanities, but also to those whose output is more concrete or practical. We need to recall that intellectuals, of whatever type, are necessarily involved in society. Whether they like it or not, they form part of a group characterised by language, politics, history and culture. ; N/A